Who is the worst president of the usa?

1. Rankings depend on method: scholars vs. public vs. partisans

Academic rankings typically aggregate historians’ judgments on leadership, accomplishments and failures; the Presidential Greatness Project’s 2024 edition placed Donald Trump at the bottom with about a 10.9 score out of 100 ^[1]. Media outlets that synthesize multiple polls — such as U.S. News’ composite of scholarly surveys — also placed Trump among the worst, and noted he was the only living president in their “10 worst” list as of early 2025 ^[4]. By contrast, public opinion and partisan commentary often produce different “worst” labels based on recent events or political allegiance ^[6].

2. Why some historians single out Trump

Multiple recent pieces and aggregations cite Trump’s low scholarly scores and argue his conduct, policy choices, and rhetorical style justify a last‑place ranking: the Presidential Greatness Project and several outlets reported Trump as the lowest‑scoring president in their 2024/2025 tallies ^{[1] [2]}. Advocacy groups and commentators amplify those findings: Democracy21 summarized critiques including high counts of false or misleading statements as part of why they label his presidency a profound failure ^[7].

3. Competing historical candidates: Buchanan, Coolidge and others

Longstanding scholarly consensus often names James Buchanan — whose inaction and political choices are widely blamed for paving the way to the Civil War — as the single worst president in many classic historical rankings ^[1]. Some commentators and specialized lists propose other low performers: for example, one progressive commentator argued Calvin Coolidge’s laissez‑faire economic approach helped set conditions preceding the Great Depression ^[5]. These differences highlight that “worst” can mean constitutional failure, moral failure, economic mismanagement, or long‑term geopolitical damage — different metrics yield different names ^{[5] [1]}.

4. Contemporary politics shapes the debate

Opinion pieces and letters in regional papers show the debate is current and politicized: some letters argued Joe Biden could be judged the worst in time, and others published scathing assessments of Trump’s second term as uniquely dangerous ^{[8] [3]}. Newspapers and advocacy sites often use current officeholders to frame historical judgments, which amplifies partisan narratives and makes consensus harder to reach ^{[3] [8]}.

5. Polls, time and the “hindsight” effect

Experts tell reporters that presidential reputations often improve or change with time; some scholars quoted by Newsweek warned that legacies “almost uniformly improve with the benefit of hindsight,” which complicates snap judgments of a recent or current president ^[6]. Seldom‑cited presidents from the 19th century remain frequent entries on “worst” lists because long‑term consequences of their actions (or inaction) are clearer after decades ^[1].

6. What the sources don’t resolve

Available sources do not converge on a single, objective metric that all historians use; different polls and commentaries use varying sample frames (historians, political scientists, public polls, editorial writers) and different evaluation criteria, producing diverging “worst” designations ^{[4] [1]}. No source in the provided set presents a definitive, universally accepted ranking that all scholars endorse.

7. Bottom line for readers

If you want a short answer based on recent scholarly aggregation: several prominent 2024–25 scholar surveys and media summaries place Donald Trump at or near the bottom ^{[1] [4] [2]}. If you prefer longer historical perspective, James Buchanan remains a frequent scholarly choice for worst president because of actions that historians connect to the Civil War; other names (Calvin Coolidge, and contemporary critiques of Biden) appear depending on what criterion — constitutional, economic, moral or political — you prioritize ^{[3] [5] [6]}.